Shoe with spring stitched upper and method of making the same



Jan. 7, 1958 c. E. COPELAND 2,818,663

SHOE WITH SPRING STITCHED UPPER AND METHOD- OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Sept. 8. 1953 1271 212 Tar Cm zm {DH/4K2 C OPEL4/1/D United States Patent 2,818,663 Patented Jan. 7, 1958 SHOE WITH FaPRHVG STHTCHED UPPER AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Charles E. Copeland, Jetferson, Wis., assignor to The Scholl Mfg. Co., Inc, Chicago, 111., a corporation of New York Application September 8, 1953, Serial No. 378,968

8 Claims. (Cl. 36-45) This invention relates to improvements in a shoe and method of making the same, and more particularly to the construction of the shoe upper, the invention being highly desirable for use in connection with business and dress shoes of the so-called oxford type, although the invention is equally as well applicable to various other types of articles of footwear, as will be apparent to one skilled in the art.

In shoes and various similar articles of footwear as made heretofore, unless the shoe was individually made for a particular foot, there frequently is surplus leather in the inner and outer longitudinal shanks. Often this causes objectionable wrinkling in the upper near the sole, particularly adjacent the first metatarsal head. Very frequently, too, shoes made heretofore gap when walking in the ankle region, just below the ankle joint in the case of oxford type shoes, and this gapping proceeds in a pulsating manner during walking with the quarter of the upper, most frequently the quarter on the inside, alternately bulging and contracting. Further, shoes heretofore known very often did not sufiiciently hug the foot in the region of the instep and thus provide a neat, intimate, and yet comfortable fit over the instep.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an important object of the instant invention to provide a shoe having an upper so constructed as to eliminate surplus leather in the region of the inner and outer longitudinal shanks.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a shoe having an upper so constructed as to provide a better ankle fit and eliminate gapping.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of a shoe having an upper so constructed as to provide a neater and tighter top line, and one which comfortably hugs the foot in the region of the instep.

It is also a feature of the invention to provide a shoe having an upper so constructed that it provides a better appearance and lit particularly with pegged shank shoes where the welting stops short on the inside of the shoe, and does not extend to the heel.

Also an object of the invention is the provision of a shoe having an upper with a natural contour in keeping with the foot in the region of the instep; i. e., the upper will have a convex curvature on the inside of the instep, and a concave curvature on the outside before the foot is entered into the shoe.

Still a further object of the invention resides in the provision of a shoe having an upper wherein the vamp is connected to the quarters by spring stitching, or in other words, by a sprung seam in each instance.

Still another feature of the invention resides in the provision of a shoe having an upper wherein the vamp and quarters are so connected as to give a positive curve in the quarters which aids in closing the back seam between the quarters.

Also an object of the invention is the provision of a new and novel method of making a shoe upper.

While some of the more salient features, character- 1 quarters have been commonly followed.

istics and advantages of the instant invention have been above pointed out, others will become apparent from the following disclosures, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a shoe upper partially completed, illustrating my novel method of making the same;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the finished upper prior to the provision of the eyelets for laces and prior to attachment to the sole;

Figure 3 is a plan view of a completed shoe embodying principles of the instant invention; and

Figure 4 is a front end view of the shoe of Fig. 3.

As shown on the drawings:

For purposes of convenience, the instant invention is illustrated and described herein in connection with a shoe for the right foot. It will be obvious a shoe for a left foot will be similarly made, with oppositely cut quarter patterns.

In the illustrated instance, the shoe upper includes a vamp 1, an inside quarter 2, and an outside quarter 3. The instant invention centers itself particularly in the construction of the upper.

Heretofore, two ways of stitching the vamp to the It will be understood that the marginal portion of the vamp and the adjacent marginal portion of a quarter are preferably skived so that the overlap through which the stitching is made will have an overall resultant thickness in keeping with the thickness of the vamp and quarter patterns. One form of stitching heretofore employed included the cementing of these margins in an overlap position before the line or lines of stitching was applied. The other method employed was the so-called butt stitching wherein the adjacent marginal portions of the vamp and a quarter were skived and reversely turned, brought into abutment, and the stitching was in a back and forth or criss cross manner.

The instant invention embodies what may be termed for convenience spring stitching, the adjacent patterns not being joined by cement prior to the stitching, but disposed with overlapped margins.

Looking at Fig. 2, it will be noted that the vamp 1 on the inner side is joined to the inner quarter 2 by line stitching 4 connecting uniformly overlapped marginal portions 5. On the other side thereof, the vamp 1 is joined to the outer quarter 3 by a line of stitching 6 connecting uniformly overlapped marginal portions 7. Now comparing the finished upper of Fig. 2 with the upper undergoing assembly as seen in Fig. l, we find that in Fig. 1 when the inner quarter 2 is connected to the vamp ll, one end of the marginal portion 8 of the inner quarter is extended well beyond the position it ultimately occupies, which latter position is indicated at 5. In this instance the initial extra overlapping of the marginal portions of the vamp and quarter occur at the top of the upper, and the line of stitching 4 begins at the bottom of the upper, this line of stitching being shown partially completed in Fig. 1. Now, assuming that the pattern arrangement of Fig. 1 is viewed directly from the right hand side of Fig. l itself, it is necessary for the operator to force the extra overlapped portion of marginal portion 8 at the upper edge of the quarter to the right, and at the same time force the corresponding portion of the vamp to the left, so that the overlap will ultimately be uniform as indicated at 5. Of course, this same result might be obtained by holding the vamp stationary and moving'the quarter to the right, or by holding the quarter stationary and moving the vamp to the left, although a movement of both quarter and vamp is usually done. In short, the upper edge of the marginal portion 8 of the quarter 2 must coincide with the adjacent upper edge of the vamp 1, as they do in Fig. 2, when the stitching is completed. This is what may be termed spring stitching, that is, stitching applied to parts while they are forced. into. a strained. positional relationship to each other.

On. the outer side. of upper, the line of stitching 6 starts at the top of the upper and terminates at the bottom. in this instance, the lower end of the marginal portion9 ofv the outside quarter 3 extends more than the desired ultimate distance over the margin of the vamp, and also extends laterally beyond the vamp. As the stitching proceeds, the operator must similarly force the marginal portion of the. quarter to the right, and the cor responding portion of the vamp to the left to acquire the ultimate uniform overlap indicated at 7.

In both cases, the elimination of the extra overlapped marginal portions is done progressively as the line of stitching proceeds.

This procedure results in an assembled upper which will not lie flatly on the table, as is evident from the showing in Fig. 2. When the upper is placed on the table, there is a definite upward buckling in the vamp as indicated at 113, and there will be an upward rising curvature in the other portion of the vamp and outer quarter as indicated at 1. it will be noted that the outer quarter 3 also curves inwardly, and there will be an inward curvature to the quarter 2 when the upper is shaped around the last. These inward curvatures of the quarters facilitate closin" the back seam 12 seen in Fig. 3.

The upper so provided molds readily over a last, and when the upper has been lasted and joined to a sole l3 customary manner, the finished shoe will have a at and natural transverse instep convexity at 14 in Figs. 3 and 4 and a resultant and natural transverse concavity on the outer side in the region indicated by numeral it; when the shoe is oil the foot. This causes the shoe to intimately hug the instep of the foot, without my discomfort, and provides a much heater and better string top line. Due to the spring stitching above described, the shoe fits much better around the ankle and does not gap or pulsate at the top of the quarters during Further, in the finished shoe there will be no htiy wrinkling or unsatisfactory feeling to the foot of the user by virtue of surplus leather along the inner and outer longitudinal shanks. In addition, it should be c .lly noted that the complete shoe has finer lines and is nearer in appearance than shoes heretofore constructed, and my novel method of making the upper actuaily facilitates the complete manufacture of the shoe, rather than render the manufacture more extensive by virtue of added operations.

it will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

1 claim as my invention:

1. in a shoe, an upper including a vamp, and two quarters, said vamp being joined to a quarter at each sidc'of the shoe by a line of stitching, the margins of the quarters and vamp being sprung relative to each other, the spring of said margins increasing upwardly to the top in one line of stitching and downwardly to the bottom in the other.

2. In a shoe, an upper comprising a vamp and two quarters, said vamp being joined to a quarter at each side. of the shoe by a line of stitching in overlapped marginal portions of the vamp and quarters, the margins of the quarters and vamp being sprung relative to each other, one line of stitching extending upwardly and holding the vamp and respective quarter gradually forced apart to a uniform overlap from aninitial excess overlap greatest the i of the shoe by a line of stitching, the margins of the quarters and the vamp being sprung relative to each other, the spring held by said lines of stitching increasing in opposite directions and holding the vamp and respective quarters gradually forced apart to a uniform overlap from an initially excessive overlap.

4. In a shoe, an upper comprising a vamp and two quarters, said vamp being joined to a quarter at each side of the shoe by a line of stitching, the margins of the quarters and the vamp being sprung relative to each other, said lines of stitching holding the vamp and respective quarters gradually forced apart to a uniform overlap from an initially excessive overlap, the spring held by the line of stitching on the inside of the upper increasing as it extends upwardly, and the spring held by the line of stitching on the outside of the upper increasing as it extends downwardly.

5. The method of making a shoe upper comprising a vamp and a pair of quarters, including attaching the vamp to both the quarters by lines of stitching, and increasingly springing the margins of the quarters and vamp relative to each other but in opposite directions as the stitching progresses.

6. The method of making a shoe upper comprising a vamp and a pair of quarters, including the steps of attaching one side of the vamp to a quarter by a line of stitching progressing in an upward direction while increasingly springing the margins of the quarter and vamp relative to each other, and attaching the other side of the vamp to the other quarter by a line of stitching progressing downwardly while increasingly springing the margins of the other quarter and vamp relative to each other.

7. The method of making a shoe upper comprising a vamp and a pair of quarters, including the steps of attaching the vamp to one of the quarters at the inside of the upper by a line of stitching while springing the margins of the quarter and vamp relative to each other with increasing spring upwardly to the top of the upper, and attaching the vamp to the other quarter at the outside of the upper by a line of stitching while springing the margins of the other quarter and vamp relative to each other with increasing spring downwardly to the bottom of the upper.

8. The method of making a shoe upper comprising a vamp and a pair of quarters, including the steps of overlapping adjacent margins of the vamp and one quarter at the upper portion of the inside of the upper to a greater extent than required, running a line of stitching through said margins upwardly from the bottom edge of said margins while progressively springing the quarter and vamp apart to the required overlap in the upper portion thereof, overlapping adjacent margins of the vamp and the other quarter at the lower portion of the upper to a greater extent than required, and running a line of stitching through the second said overlapping margins downwardly from the top edge of the margins while progressively springing the said other quarter and vamp apart to the required overlap in the lower portion thereof.

Norton Aug. 5, i884 Topham Sept. 2, 1930 

